Apparatus for heating furnace-blasts.



No. 679,450. Patented luly 30, I901. G. D. BURTON.

APPARATUS FOR HEATING FURNACE BLASTS.

(Apphcatlon filed Jan. 38, 1901 (lo Iodal.)

UNrrhb STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE D. BURTON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR HEATING FURNACE-BLASTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 679,450, dated July 30,1901.

Application filed January 28, 1901. Serial No. 45,038. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE D. BURTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forHeating Furnace-Blasts, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention consists in arranging and extending the hot-water pipe fromthe waterjacket of a smelting or melting furnace to the inside of thewind or blower pipe, through which is delivered a suitable air-blast,said air-blast being connected to the wind-box of the furnace. For thepurpose of heating the said blast before it enters the wind-box andfurnace I extend the discharge-pipe from the furnace-jacket to theblast-pipe and then to the inside of said blast pipe in the shape of acoil or any suitable form and cause the hot water from the water-jacketof the furnace to circulate through said pipe and coil for the purposeof heating the air-blast.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective of asmuch of the exterior of the furnace as is necessary to illustrate myinvention. Fig. 2 is a section of the blower-pipe, showing the extendedhot-water pipe from the water-jacket of the furnace inside of said blastor blower pipe.

Like letters and figures of reference mark the same parts wherever theyoccur in the various figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings by letters, a rep resents the furnace; b, thewind-box forming a part of said furnace; c, the blast or blower pipe; dd, the twyers; e, the extended hotwater pipe from the water-jacket ofthe furnace; f, the feed-floor; g, theinlet for delivering the coldwater to the furnace; h, a damper for regulating pressure to the blastdelivered to said furnace; z, the steam-exhaust pipe from said furnace;7.3, the coil from the extended hot-water pipe from the Waterjacketwithin the blast or blower pipe; 072, the outlet for the hot water afterit has passed through the coil of pipe within the blowerpipe; at, thepressure-gage for denoting the amount of air or blast pressure deliveredto said furnace; 0, the pipe connecting the pressure-gage to theWind-box of said furnace; p, the funnel-shaped receiver into which theheated water is delivered after it passes through the coil of pipewithin the blast or blower pipe and is also used for conducting off thewaste water.

1- represents the feed-door through which the material to be smelted isfed to the furnace.

s 3' represent the stuffing-boxes for making tight joints around theparts where the hotwater pipe is conducted to the blast or blower pipe.

A valve 2 represents means for controlling the delivery of cold water tosaid furnace. Valves 3 3" represent means for controlling the outlet ofthe heated water from said furnace. A valve at represents means forcontrolling the delivery of the heated water after it has passed throughthe coil of pipe within the blower or blast pipe. A valve 5 controls theexhaust-steam from the furnace through the exhaust-pipe 2'.

A commercial blower (not shown) of any usual construction or any otherwell-known means for creating a blast may be employed for furnishing anair-blast to the furnace.

It is well known that all blast-furnaces and smelters force into thewind-box by a blower cold air, which is transmitted from the windbox tothe furnace through the twyers. This cold blast entering the furnace hasa tendency to chill the charge in the furnace and the fuel around thetwyers and in a short time a ring of solid material above the twyers isformed all the way around the furnace, and as the progress of smeltingcontinues the ring increases in size, thus diminishing the smeltingcapacity of the furnace. At certain intervals the charge in the furnacehas to be run down for the purpose of allowing this ring to be barredoff. In order to do this, it is necessary to diminish the charge in thefurnace and the blast, thereby delaying smelting operations for severalhours, at a detriment and expense to the smelting process. After thisring of metal has been barred off, the furnace is recharged, and thesmelting operation continued, and another blast of cold air ad mitted tothe furnace, and another ring is soon formed. To obviate thisdifficulty, I have placed a coil of pipe in the conducting blastpipe andcirculate the hot Water from the water-jacket through this pipe, or Imay the parts that fall before the twyers from beaffix a tank, severalfeet in length, height, and breadth, around the wind or blower pipeleading to the wind-box, and. into this tank around the blower or blastpipe the hot water from the water-jacket of the smelter or furnace isconducted and circulated and allowed to overflow through a waste-pipe toany convenient point. This waste water comes into this receiver from thewater-jacket of the f urnace at about 140 to 180 Fahrenheit and heatsthe wind or blast pipe the entire length within the box containing theheated water and portions extending either side of the box to a lesstemperature by radiation. The cold blast passing through the blast-pipeis thereby heated by either method shown and goes into the furnace as ahot blast, thereby decreasing the amount of fuel required at least fiveper cent. and avoiding the liability of chilling the charge, obviatingthe forming of a metal ring above the twyers, and doing away with thenecessity of opening the twyers and removing any chilled portion of ore,coke, or other fuel that may fall in front thereof and which hasheretofore become cooled from the cold blast, as it is necessary at alltimes to have the twyers free from all obstruction on the internal wallsof the furnace. The heating of the cold air by heating the pipe in theconductor through which the air or blast passes and keeping thetemperature even is a valuable feature, as the hot air will keep comingchilled and also prevent the material above the twyers from chilling.This heating of the cold air is also a valuable feature in the saving offuel and time and also obviates the forming of the metal ring above thetwyers, and when it is considered that no extra expense or machinery isrequired to accomplish this further than the attaching of 5 the pipeinside the blast-pipe and conducting the surplus water from the waterjacket thereto, the whole expense not exceeding twenty-five dollars, itwill be readily seen that it is a very simple and inexpensive device.

The apparatus is adapted to any waterjacket furnace, either for smeltingor meltmg.

I claim as my invention In a furnace, the combination of a windbox, ablower-pipe connected therewith, acoiled pipe disposed in saidblower-pipe, a water-jacket, a pipeconnecting said waterjacket with saidcoiled pipe whereby the airblast is heated by said coiled pipe in itspassage to said furnace, and discharge means connected with said coiledpipe.

In testimony that I claim the invention above set forth I affix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

GEO. D. BURTON.

Witnesses:

E. F. PHILIPSON, FRANK E. Cox.

